What will the 2015/16 storylines be in The Football League?

The excitement is building; fixture release day 2015/16 is almost upon us!

Last time around, the intensity in all three Football League divisions remained prevalent until the end.

The battle for the Sky Bet Championship title went down to the final day, when AFC Bournemouth eventually came out on top, seeing off the challenge of Watford to secure an unforgettable rise to English football's top table.

And it was the same story in Sky Bet League 2, where Burton Albion had to wait until the last round of fixtures to become champions, rising to the third tier for the first time in their history.

In Sky Bet League 1, meanwhile, it was a more straight-forward affair as Steve Cotterill's Bristol City sealed the title with two games to spare.

But the second automatic promotion place in League 1 went down to the wire, with Preston North End and Milton Keynes Dons both in with a chance of going up heading into the final day.

The latter played host to already-relegated Yeovil Town, while Preston went on the road to Colchester United, who needed to pick up at least a point to have any chance of survival at the foot of the division – a six-pointer if ever there was one.

At stadiummk, Karl Robinson's free-scoring Dons thumped the Glovers 5-1 with a confident display. The pressure was on Simon Grayson's Lilywhites, and they crumbled to a stern Colchester side, who triumphed 1-0 to secure their League 1 status for another year at least, and consign Preston to the Play-Offs. We all know what happened there – the Jermaine Beckford-inspired Lilywhites making it 10th time lucky.

Although the storyline was played out through nine/10 months of thrilling action, that six-pointer of a fixture in Essex was pencilled in on Wednesday 18th June 2014, when the 2014/15 matches were announced.

“You can't claim any credit for having foresight because you can never predict these things,” Football League Fixtures Officer Paul Snellgrove said.

“These things tend to happen in football - that's what keeps it exciting.”

That's the beauty of The Football League. The compelling storylines are thrown up year after year - 2014/15 wasn't an exception, just the most recent.